Friday, 26 August 2011

The observance of the Unleavened Bread followed Passover and was associated with it. So much so that the two events were regarded as being one and the same Feast. We read therefore, "Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover." (Lk. 22:1; Matt. 26:17). The Passover event itself was on the fourteenth day of the first month, in the evening. Then the Unleavened Bread continued from the fifteenth day until the twenty-first day, seven days in all.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEAVEN

As to the spiritual significance of the Unleavened Bread we are not left in doubt. Says Paul to the Corinthians, "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:6-8).

The penetrating and spreading characteristics of leaven make it to be a fitting type of malice and wickedness in a believer or in an assembly. Paul likens the persuasive and corrupting influence of the Judaizers upon the Galatians to "leaven." "This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Gal. 5:8, 9). Again, our Lord likens the doctrines of the Pharisees and Sadducees to "leaven," because of their evil influence. "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the Sadducees." (Matt. 16:6). To observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, therefore is to live a life that is free from the corrupting influences of sin and the flesh.

HOW TO BE FREE FROM LEAVEN

When the children of Israel departed from Egypt they gathered up their dough before it was leavened, for they did not have opportunity to leaven it, "because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry." (Ex. 12:39). Had they lingered in Egypt, they would have had plenty of opportunity to leaven their dough; but because they were thrust out in haste their bread was unleavened.

So it is with the child of God. As long as he is pressing on with God, and fleeing from the corrupting influences of the world, the flesh, and the Devil--his life is free from sin. He does not have "time" for sin to work within him. He is too busy following his God and following on in the pathway of obedience.

(Chris Welch:selected verses from Romans 8

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you..............................

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.)

But let him linger by the way, lose the vision of the glory that is set before him, and yearn for the good old days when he had plenty in Egypt--and leaven will begin to work afresh in his life. Let any child of God, or group of saints, lose the vision of God's glory, and before long that man or that assembly becomes filled with the leaven of malice and wickedness. There is only one sure way by which a stream of water can be kept pure and clean--and that is by flowing. Let it be diverted into an open pit, and before long the water becomes a stagnant pool and will breed corruption and death. So it is with Truth. When an individual, and assembly, or a group of assemblies settles back in self-complacency, satisfied with their condition, and content with the thought that they have arrived at the Truth--stagnation immediately sets in, the leaven begins to function, and "malice and wickedness" characterize the whole denomination. You simply cannot expect to keep a sect clean from the corrupting influences of the flesh, because if they linger behind when the glory-cloud moves forward, they have plenty of time to leaven their dough. On the other hand, if you proceed from "glory to glory" there is no opportunity for you to become leavened.

MODERN PHARISEES AND SADDUCEES

That is why Jesus warned the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Now the doctrines of the Sadducees were definitely false, for they denied the resurrection, the fact of angels and spirits, and so forth. They were the predecessors of our modern religions which have a form of godliness but "deny the power thereof." They denied the supernatural; and we have plenty of Sadducees in the world today. But the Pharisees, on the other hand, were quite orthodox in their teachings; so much so that Jesus commanded His own disciples to observe and do what they said. (Matt. 23:3). Why then did He tell the same disciples to "beware" of their doctrine? For this simple reason: "They say, and do not." What they said was all right, generally speaking, but their works gave the lie to their teachings. So it is with our modern Pharisees, our orthodox Christian teachers.

They teach about the power of Jesus' blood;

they lift you to heights of praise as they expound the glories of the celestial, and the power of Christ's resurrection;

they speak much of the miracles of Christ, and the power of the early Church;

they will expound the doctrines of healing, and miracles, and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. But "they say, and do not."

And not only that: for they condemn and denounce the man who wishes to go in and explore the glories of resurrection life and the "powers of the age to come." They think it is all right to talk about resurrection and life and the heavenly realm--but when one suggests that this is the heritage of the saints here and now, there are loud protests from the Pharisees.

Then the leaven begins its subtle influence, and an orthodox theology develops into malice and wickedness.

O saints of God everywhere, let us launch out into the deep! Let us lift our anchor which has gripped the earth for so long--and let us become anchored to Christ in the heavens, where we ought to be anchored. For God has intended that our anchor should pass into the heavens, behind the veil, whither the forerunner has for us entered. (Heb. 6:19, 20). If we are anchored to earth, and to the doctrines of men, we will be earth-bound creatures; but once we anchor to Heaven and to the Man behind the veil, we are Heaven-bound creatures--and we are constantly rising higher and higher and higher into the realms of the Spirit.

Then one day, thank God!--the veil of the flesh shall be rent asunder, and we shall see Him as He is! And when we speak this way, we are not talking about physical death, nor about the rapture; but we are speaking of seeing Him "who is invisible," as Moses did of old. We shall see Him, even though the world sees Him not. Did not Jesus say, "The world seeth me no more; but ye see me..." (Jn. 14:19)? And was He not speaking of seeing Him in the Spirit, because of the coming of the Holy Spirit into the hearts of the disciples?

Unleavened Bread - The Feast we Walk In by Chris Welch

No movement has been able to date to walk consistently without leaven. The Israelites died in the wilderness. In recent history perhaps there was something special about the 100 year Moravian Prayer meeting. Certainly the resultant missionary push not only affected England through Wesley and Whitfield, but their missionaries went to the ends of the earth.

More recently still, only a handful of people came through the 60s charismatic awakening and together with Arthur Wallis walked out of the denominational restrictions into the new things God was building. And perhaps less still could say together with Derek Prince that they had consisently walked with the Cloud all their lives.

Facebook - Chris Welch

What's the big deal about the Feast of Unleavened Bread?Why Manna? Simply this.God is concerned about Union with you, so rather like Sony or Itunes with their DRM restrictions limiting CD/Mp3 copies, the Word is made to perish before it goes through to many inbetweens.Why is this fact important?

The denomination/church organisation you are with only has "perished"," hand me down Word". It always gets diverted to the left or the right...but God's Word is Living and goes straight through the centre.ie it is neither Armenian nor Calvinist but both simultaneously. There is no getting away with it, we want to have word separate from Him...but only He is the Word...and for this reason we walk in a permanent Feast of "Unleavened Bread".....bread that has NO LEAVEN whatever!!!! HE DOES HIS OWN RISING!!!! Hallelujah

Why do we have to rightly divide the Word?Well actually it's simpler than that.The Word is a Person who walks between two dead carcasses of Truth split like an animal in two,like two boundaries to the left and the right.Armenianism is dead.Calvinism is dead.But Jesus is alive.Some say seeking after the spectacular is immature and quote "This unbelieving generation seeks a sign." Others quote Paul: earnestly seek the higher gifts especially that you may prophesy. Both sides of opinion are dead carcasses.Jesus walks right in the middle.

Leaven is NOT authentic. Like cancer , it is extra to the original life or structure. It is a hideous deformation. It is the "bewitching" of Galations where the church had bowed to the pressures of the "circumcision". Getting back to working for your salvation.

Let's name leaven spiritually. It is a spirit. It is the spirit of error that we inherited in the Fall through choosing what we supposed was our own way. But there is no "own way". Spiritually we need to either be empowered by God's Life through Christ, or we default to a "Satan-I hookup". We need to be empowered by some deity. Either the TRUE Deity, God the Father, or a false one, Satan, masquerading as freedom. And only as we truly begin the reckoning process of reckoning ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, are we taken through the experience described in Romans 6 and 7. This leads to us finding out that at salvation, Christ really did a radical replacement of my "I", which was really Satan-I, pulling me hither and thither, and Christ came in joined to my spirit, as the new "I".

How leaven shows up in charismatic churches is extremely subtle. For there everyone is, going deep in praise; pressing through in regular prayer; feeding on many messages and sermons...
but the reality is the Satan-I remains absolutely unchallenged. The self for self drive that like the proverbial fly in the ointment, makes you drop the whole ointment cream and run like Heidi Venie off into the wilderness of Alaska.

If charismatic leadership was mature in Christ ,maybe a case could be made out for exonerating them in these twoissues....but then again...perhaps neither of these will ever be allowed.
Issue 1. Leaders circumvent the New Covenant and write a new commandment by which a man shall be saved. Tithing. And this tithe goes to the leaders. Not to the poor. Yes to buildings.But mostly to paying salaries. Levites may have lived from the tithe in the Old Covenant, but in the new they live from freewill offerings...and wherever possible, from the work of their own hands.
In other words, like George Mueller they live by faith in God who supplies their needs.
Today's leaders create a breeding ground for leaven. Symbiotic systems are mutually reliant systems. The fleshly leaven system is promoted by forcing people to give you a tithe so you are virtually a salaried employee of a club or corporation. The Kingdom symbiosis gets both sides reliant on the Cross, and the Presence of God. The leader, trusting in God for his or her finances
is totally free to "circumcise" the flesh life of their congregation with the Living Word that has no leaven.The hearers can choose to support their leaders and love them, or harden their heart...but one thing they wont do is hang around long if they are unwilling. In an atmosphere of very little anointing and loads of leaven, churches get clogged up with hearers who "think they are righteous" because they are tithing, but they are not even interested in the Living Word of God. And so it is that churches like Havant which began so well in the 80s get clogged up with people that are not actually in church purely for Christ and Him alone, but go to church for a whole host of other reasons....some of which are just a result of being bewitched by law."You shalt go to church".
Issue 2. Those who prophesy today have to check out their message first with leaders who are themselves filled with "leaven" between their ears. These leaders wouldn't necessarily recognise the "Now" Word of Christ, because they have now lived for about 30 years without it. They are living instead with a 1980s distortion of what was then the Living Word of Christ. Their version however has "independent self" stamped through it like lettering through rock. Those prophesying DO NOT HAVE TO CHECK their messages out first, because for a start they will only ever know a small gist of what the Spirit will speak through them by the energising power of that same Spirit. The scriptures say the Body, and those mature in the Spirit will then judge what has been said, and will guide a response as appropriate. If things go awry, then mature ones can guide things back on course. But wrong use never implies no use, or unscriptural use...it causes us to press through to right use. Certainly as things stand we have laid out an airport runway for leaven....because we have made an impediment to people delivering messages of the Lord in the Spirit...and instead we are encouraging people to tamper by means of their own minds.
Who has known the Mind of the Lord? I mean that, not just rhetorically. Who actually has known the mind of the Lord?
Imagine say a mature leader like Peter Stott weighing up a prophecy about the Virgin birth of Christ. And then another coming up and saying "Hmmmm....I'm getting something about a food trough in a stable out the back of a hotel...and it's very smelly." "I'm afraid we cannot accept that....go back and try again....that's just too far out!!!"

How dare we tamper with the very gifts of the Holy Spirit, the one who hovered on the waters when the earth was formless and void? Just who do we think we are?

The Unleavened Bread we have within us is Christ Himself. Galations 2:20-21 says I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

I have written on Facebook this week that faith implies risk. In that risk we are weak, thrown upon God. if we try to remove the risk of faith we are like David wheeling God's Presence around in the form of the Ark of the Covenant towards Jerusalem in a new cart. The defined method for transporting the Ark is upon the shoulders of committed ones; ones risking their lives in some designated way.
Making themselves vulnerable that if God doesn't show up they are stuffed.

"some of you will never experience that revival you are after,because inwardly you have already made another decision. You simply refuse to put your hands down by your sides and take them off My Body. Kingdom symbiotics are that the Levites or ones who live by ministry live by donation at My hand regardless of how popular the message.Secondly, those prophesying do not ask man for permission (which has the effect of) filtering My Word. Those words are to be judges by the Body.

The Kingdom is the risk of faith....if I don't show up...you're stuffed!!! The Ark of the Testimony is carried on the shoulders of those risking their lives, not in the new carts of human organisation."

Debbie SneddonTruth is pure revelation - it is God urging upon you (the temple) His glorious promises and designs.<-------Praying for a new revelation of Jesus every day and for the Spirit to manifest in me, and through me, all I must do is die to me. Bless you Mikkel.

Mikkel ThomsenThanks Debbie and Barbara, 1 John 3:2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Bless.

Wednesday, 24 August 2011

The first Passover was observed by the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, on the eve of their departure out of the house of bondage into the wilderness. It was the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month. God had raised up a deliverer for the people in the person of the Man Moses, and had equipped him with such power and authority in the Spirit that he was to Pharaoh even "as God." Many and dreadful and great were the signs and wonders which were wrought by his hand, so that Egypt became utterly wasted at the hands of a God of judgment. One by one the plagues fell upon the land; and time and again Pharaoh promised to let the people go, only to harden his heart when the plague was lifted. Finally God declared His judgment upon the firstborn of all the land of Egypt--and then Egypt was literally "glad" to see the people depart, so dreadful and far-reaching was the destruction of the Almighty.

A NEW BEGINNING

"And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you" (Ex. 12:1, 2). As from this date Israel was to have a new calendar. It was to be the first month instead of the second, because God was going to deliver them from Egyptian bondage, and bring them into a new experience and into a new land. Israel's old associations were to be gone forever. No longer would they serve the Egyptian taskmaster under hard bondage, but they were to serve the Lord their God. No longer were they to eat the leeks and onions and garlic of Egypt, but they would feast upon manna from heaven, and drink water out of the flinty rock. No longer would they abide in the houses of their little world in Egypt, but they would henceforth follow the cloud of glory from one place to another, from one experience to another, even from "glory to glory." Had not the Lord plainly declared, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them." (Ex. 3:7, 8). And so, to deliver Israel from the judgment of the firstborn, and to prepare them for a new life as a separated and holy nation, God instituted the Passover. And this event would mean the preservation of Israel in the hour of God's judgments upon the land of Egypt, and the beginning of a new era for the people of God.

So it is that the Cross of Christ becomes the beginning of a new era for the children of God. Old things begin to pass away, and all things begin to become new. The bondage of the world, the flesh, and the Devil, gives way to a liberty in the Spirit, and a life of servitude to the God of our salvation. "Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." (Rom. 6:18). From the time we receive Christ as our personal Saviour, and really partake of the benefits of Calvary's Cross--from that very hour we begin a new life in God. And whereas, we once served the enemy of our souls under cruel bondage, now we have become the voluntary bond-slaves of Christ. And after all, the only liberty man will ever find in this world is the liberty which he drives in becoming the "slave" of the Lord Jesus. Paul delighted in calling himself a "doulos," a "bond-slave" of Christ. Man is only free when he is bound to Christ with a chain of love and friendship which neither the cares of life nor the attacks of Satan can sever.

A LAMB FOR AN HOUSE

Our Passover Lamb is sufficient for all our needs. And though men have appropriated His grace and blessing from the foundation of the world even until now--still there remaineth grace sufficient for any sinner who comes to Christ. "And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; the ye, always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work." (2 Cor. 9:8).

THE LAMB TO BE WITHOUT BLEMISH

This was necessary because it typified the true "Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." (Jn. 1:29). "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." (1 Pet. 1:18, 19).

THE LAMB MUST BE KILLED

Modernism will accept the Lamb of God as He teaches in the temple, lives a life of righteousness and purity, and expounds His parables. But they will have nothing to do with the Lamb who was crucified for their sins. And therefore the door of salvation is closed to them. For there is positively no acceptance for any man before God except by the shedding of the precious blood of Christ. It is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul, and "without shedding of blood is no remission." (Heb. 9:22).

THE BLOOD MUST BE APPLIED

It is not even sufficient that the lamb should be slain; the blood of the slain lamb must be applied to the door-posts of the house. In other words, there must be an individual and personal appropriation, by faith, of the work of the Cross. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation (Mercy Seat) through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus". (Rom. 3:25, 26).

THE FLESH MUST BE EATEN

Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." (Jn. 6:53-55). It was a hard saying then, and it is a hard saying today. How can we eat the flesh of Christ? So reasons the natural man. But we can do so by the Spirit, through faith. We may eat His flesh in daily meditation and appropriation of the Word. We may eat His flesh in prayer and communion by the Spirit. And we may eat his flesh as we discern the Lord's Body in the Communion. Jesus said, and incidentally it was on the occasion of the last Passover, "This is my body which is given for you; this do in remembrance of me." (Lk. 22:19). For He was the fulfillment of every Passover Lamb which was ever offered in Jewish ceremony; and the Substance having been revealed, the type has passed away.

THE PEOPLE MUST DEPART

The children of Israel were to eat the Passover lamb with their loins girded and with their shoes on their feet--ready to depart from Egypt. The moment a man receives Christ as his Passover Lamb, he must there and then be prepared to depart from the world and all of its allurements. He is not saved by works, and it is entirely unscriptural to teach holiness as the means of salvation. For it is not within the power of any man in Adam's fallen race to present himself acceptably before God. There is none righteous, no not so much as one; and by the works of the law there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight. (See Rom. 3:9-31). He receives the efficacy of the blood, and eats of the Passover Lamb by faith--and that constitutes his salvation. But when one identifies himself with Christ he must depart from the world and its corrupting influences, and be prepared to follow his Lord in the pathway of separation and consecration. Then only, by the works of grace produced in the heart, do we behold the scriptural signs and evidences of the salvation of Christ.

THE BLOOD IS THE SIGN

"When I see the blood I will pass over you." (Ex. 12:13). For our part we must apply the blood by faith to our hearts. Our feet must be shod, and we must be ready to leave the old ways behind. We must participate in Christ, and give evidence of the fact that we are true disciples. But so far as God is concerned He beholds this one token: "When I see the blood I will pass over you." God is eternally satisfied with the work of Calvary's Cross, and we as God's children are "accepted in the Beloved." (Eph. 1:6). "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Cor. 5:21).

O, there are so many, many things that we have left unsaid concerning the Passover Lamb. He is the theme of the whole Bible. All spiritual blessings stem from Calvary, and all power and glory and majesty pertaineth to the Lamb that was slain, and He is therefore "Worthy... to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing." (Rev. 5:12).

Chris writes: During Christ's ministry with the disciples, presumably they experienced two Passovers together, and then in the Upper Room they had the "meal" which Jesus had longed to share with them. The Last Supper. Or the last Passover meal.

Everything happened as normal in the meal, the way it was laid out, all of them seated around Jesus, the Rabbi....except

THIS TIME...

when He reached for the matsos to break it, and poured out the wine for everyone to share....

He said something different.

Something that would change history forever...

Not just for Jews

Not just for the early church

But speaking from a contemporary view....

I would say, the Church is only just unpacking the very outsides of His statements....for I sense in my spirit....

these words are going to mean more and more and more as we live this stuff, as I have more fully since 22 years ago...

Tuesday, 23 August 2011

My generation

My generation cannot afford a flat, let alone a house. Why? Because the baby boomers are making it impossible.

Three generations of my family were born in the 20th century. My grandparents could become professionals without going to university. They had no family support, yet by the time my parents were born they owned comfortable detached homes with gardens.

For my parents, degrees were more important. But they did not need money from their parents. By the time they had their first child—in their twenties—they also owned a detached house with a garden.

My generation of professionals, of course, is different. We do need degrees, and many of us need help from our parents. We cannot afford a flat, let alone a house, without it. Why? Because our collective parents are making it impossible. As the baby boomer generation—aged 45 to 65—they are the largest and most powerful political constituency in Britain. And they are using their electoral clout to prevent their children from having opportunities equal to their own. In crude terms, they are keeping too much wealth. By the time we inherit, it will be too late.

This is most obvious in housing. Baby boomers complain their children cannot afford a house—while preventing the development that would make it possible. Despite population growth, they have consistently failed to increase the supply of available land. London is expected to have 700,000 additional households in the next 20 years—the equivalent of 35,000 households per year. Yet in the last year fewer than 25,000 dwellings were created in the capital. This has been true for decades: the supply of housing has not been allowed to keep pace with demand. Unsurprisingly, house prices have skyrocketed—my parents’ house in London has quadrupled in real terms during my lifetime of 26 years—and the wealth gap between those who bought in that period and those who did not increases every year.

For baby boomers high house prices are a guarantee for the future: a significant part of their pension and a vital asset to pass on when they die. That is why cutting inheritance tax is so popular. It is also why people passionately resist new housing in their area.

For us, it is a catastrophe. The population increases, new houses are not built and the price of property continues to rise. The average person in my age bracket—between 22 and 29—cannot pay their rent and save for a deposit. It would cost on average 10 per cent more than their net monthly income. That is a key reason why a quarter of men between 25 and 29 still live at home.We are left in a situation where we cannot afford anything for decades, which in turn delays when we can have children or leave home. We may inherit—but that is merely concentrating wealth in the hands of families that are already doing well.

The answer isn’t complicated: build more. Yet no one seems willing to do it.

Then there are pensions. Baby boomers are retiring too young and do not want to work longer. If they don’t, we will not have any retirement at all—we’ll be too busy paying off the debts from theirs. Here, at least, the government is trying to move in the right direction, recognising that 40 year olds with a life expectancy of 80 cannot retire at 60 or 65. [See Paul Johnson’s article on pension reform.] Yet the opposition from unions and charities which represent the baby boomer generation—but not mine—makes the government’s success uncertain, and prevents it from taking the bolder steps needed.

Finally there is debt—particularly from higher education. Degrees are more essential for my generation than any preceding one. That is not anyone’s fault—it is a trend matched in every other major developed country. I support the concept of students paying towards university; it is manifestly unfair for those who did not benefit from a degree to subsidise those who do. But when combined with our housing policy, the result is frightening. At the point when, in previous decades, we would be saving for a mortgage, we are still paying our debts.

If a student completes a three-year degree costing £9,000 a year with a £3,500 annual maintenance loan, he or she will graduate with £37,500 in debt. This is half of a down payment on a mortgage for an average first-time buyer in greater London. There is, therefore, an enormous opportunity cost to university fees—and they are further exacerbating the inequality between the baby boomers and us.

None of these arguments is new. David Willetts’s excellent book The Pinch discussed the conflicts of the generations in 2010. Yet—except for some move from the government on pensions—no political party has really addressed them. This is unsurprising: most politicians are baby boomers. That does not make it forgivable.

Of course, it is not all bad. We have grown up in a time of peace, prosperity, and extraordinary technological change. As an educated woman in a developed country, my opportunities are greater than they have ever been. We have reasons to be optimistic about the future. But if the baby boomers are unkind to us—and so far, they have been—they cannot expect us to be kind to them.

Monday, 22 August 2011

I studied languages at university. Having been exposed to Latin languages :Latin,French,and Spanish, and German too, I was very conscious that although the languages may be very different, all of them had similar "coathangers". For example all had verbs and nouns, it's just that Germans sometimes plonk their verbs at the very end of sentences. Once you understand that Germans do this kind of thing (behind your back,without your permission!) but that they are still verbs...you can then "get" how German works, and that "welche Tur ist offen" has absolutely nothing to do with Chris Welch's Tourist Office. (My first ever German lesson).

In the Spirit, the quicker you learn that Pentecost is a state, and not just the one big manifestation in Acts 2, the quicker you "get" the paths of unfolding of God's plans that are all happening simultaneously as we speak, all in different arcs of fulfilment.

Jesus understood this and would refer to instances of prophetic fulfilment eg. The Elijah that had to come before the main Kingdom message was on one level fulfilled by St John. But Jesus said "should you choose to accept it"....in other words these sort of things are spiritually discerned and He wasn't going to bother enforcing that "THIS ONLY MEANS THAT".

So with that broader understanding of Pentecost as a "through stage", you can understand that the disciples were Jews being moved along from a basic understanding of an "out there" forgiving God, moving through co-working with God experientially in the preaching and the "crusades" that Jesus was carrying out, and sending them on, through to the final point when He would kind of leave them in the lurch, as far as His personal training course went...... and return in the Person of the Holy Spirit as One tabernacling amongst them, as God, this time IN FLESH, IN THEM.

As we begin this study, we would exhort the reader to carefully read all that we have to say in this first section of the book, for it is written to form a foundation, as it were, for some of the glorious truths which are to follow. We realize that much of the information that is given concerning dates and seasons may appear insignificant and unimportant, but they are necessary, nevertheless, in order that the reader may more readily appreciate the glorious truths concerning the third and last Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles.

The three great annual Feast of the Lord in Israel's worship are set forth in considerable detail in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. In a very real sense these Feasts prefigure and typify the whole Church age beginning with the Cross and consummating in the manifestation of the Sons of God and the glorious display of God's power and glory. It is, of course, this great unveiling that we are chiefly concerned about--for the eternal purposes of God begin to be accomplished in that glorious event. But we cannot have a proper understanding of the end, unless we know somewhat of the beginning. We cannot appreciate the Glory, unless we learn about the Cross. We cannot enter the Kingdom, unless we first learn obedience by the things which we suffer. The Feasts therefore begin with the Passover, and end with the Feast of Tabernacles; and in between we have the various steps and degrees by which the Church is brought out of death and into life, out of rejection and into exaltation, out of suffering and into the Kingdom. The three Feasts in Israel's annual cycle of religious ceremonies were:

1. The Feast of the Passover.

2. The Feast of Pentecost.

3. The Feast of Tabernacles.

These three Feasts, moreover, consisted of seven major events, three of which comprised the Feast of the Passover, then one stood alone--Pentecost, and then the remaining three events comprise the Feast of Tabernacles. A brief summary of the Feasts with their various festival events may be helpful:

All Israel's worship seemed to center around these three great annual Feasts. They were the occasions of great convocations, the keeping of sabbaths, the eating of certain foods, the performance of certain ordinances and rituals, and a time of great consecration and sanctification: "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the Lord empty." (Deut. 16:16).

It is our intention to deal at some length with each of the seven festival events comprising the three Feasts, and to show in what manner they have been fulfilled, or shall yet be fulfilled, in the Church of Jesus Christ. Our primary purpose, of course, is to present the last great Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, in the light of the New Testament--and especially in the light of what God is now doing in the formation of His Body, the Church. For truly the Lord is moving by His Spirit, moving o'er all the earth--brooding dovelike over the distressing state of affairs existing in the Church today, that He might bring order and harmony and peace out of chaos and darkness. And as surely as the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the deep in the beginning, and commanded light to shine out of darkness, and life to spring up out of the place of death--so surely will the voice of God once again in the ends of the ages restore the glory of Zion, and give unto her "beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

Sunday, 21 August 2011

(DNA (my addition)was not discovered by Crick until after the title below had been written)ACW.

THE CHURCH IN OLD TESTAMENT TYPE AND PROPHECY

Before we begin to deal with the typical significance of the various Feasts of the Lord, it will be necessary for us to establish the fact that the Old Testament, in type and prophecy, is applicable to the Church of Jesus Christ on a spiritual plane. It is quite common among all evangelical circles to hear sermons which are based upon the Old Testament and expounded in the light of the New; but there are so many who would insist on a literal and natural interpretation if and when a spiritual interpretation would conflict with their theological views.

For example, there is no question as to the meaning of the Passover. It is established beyond all question that Jesus Christ is our Passover, who has been sacrificed for us. Then we have the type of the Unleavened Bread--and Paul exhorts the saints to keep this Feast, "not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5:8). All Christians are agreed on this interpretation. Next in order is the waving of the Sheaf of Firstfruits before the Lord. That too, is generally recognized as having been fulfilled in Christ on resurrection morning: "Christ, the firstfruits..." Then comes Pentecost, occurring fifty days after the Passover sabbath--and the typical significance of this Feast is definitely established in the New Testament, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the waiting disciples to bestow upon them the promise of the Father. (Acts 2).

But for some strange reason this pattern of Biblical exposition is forsaken, and men seek to postpone the last three events comprising the Feast of Tabernacles to some future age, and to a people other than the Church.

And whereas the first four events are generally taught as being applicable to the Church in a spiritual way, the last three are given a most literal and natural and earthly interpretation, and consequently the real spiritual meaning of the Feast of Tabernacles is completely obscured and lost. It is essential therefore that the saints know for a certainty that the Old Testament was written for us, and that the truths which once applied to an earthly and natural Israel, are now gloriously applicable to a heavenly and spiritual Israel, only on a much higher and much more glorious spiritual plane. Much could be said concerning this, but we believe a few Scriptures will suffice for the purpose of this study:

Rom. 4:13-16. Here it is clearly and emphatically declared that the Abrahamic promises were not only to the circumcision, but also to the uncircumcision; and in either case to men of faith. Neither the circumcision nor the uncircumcision had any share in the promises of the Old Testament, except they were men of faith: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law; but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all."

Rom. 9:6-8. Again the apostle stresses the fact that it is the children of promise, not the children of the flesh, who constitute the promised seed to whom the covenants apply. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed."

Gal. 3:22. "But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

Eph. 2:12-14. "That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us."

Eph. 3:3, 6. "How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery: (as I wrote afore in few words...) that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel."

1 Pet. 1:9-12. This is a most conclusive passage as to verifying what we have said concerning the fulfillment of the Old Testament in the Church. Here Peter plainly declares that the prophets wrote primarily of the grace that was to come unto us, and the glory that was to follow Christ's sufferings. He goes so far as to say that the prophets were not ministering to their day and age, but "unto us..," and that the things they prophesied are now proclaimed unto the saints under the anointing of the Holy Ghost. This is what he says, "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it (he) testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven: which things the angels desire to look into."

HOW THE APOSTLES ESTABLISHED CHURCH TRUTH

Many, many more scriptures could be quoted to confirm what we have been saying. But perhaps the most conclusive evidence of all is the fact that the apostles, in their writings, refer constantly to the Old Testament to prove the truths they are declaring to the Church, and make innumerable quotations from all portions of the Law and the Prophets to confirm their doctrines of Christ and the Church. Nor do they make any apologies whatsoever, or even intimate that they are taking an Old Testament Scripture out of its context. Therefore if it should seem strange to some that we should quote from the Law and the Prophets to confirm some spiritual truth concerning the Body of Christ--let the reader take careful note when reading the New Testament, as to how the apostles applied the Old Testament to the Church which Christ built, and applied to spiritual Israel what the prophets originally prophesied concerning natural Israel.

THE TRUE ISRAEL

The whole New Testament is literally filled with direct quotations from the Old, by way of establishing Church truth, and the saints of God as the true Israel. Notice this remarkable passage in Romans: "Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles. As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God." (Rom. 9:24-26). Paul has just referred to Jews and Gentiles alike as being the "vessels of glory," and then he quoted this passage from Hosea to prove what he said. Bear in mind that Paul referred to them as the "vessels of glory" taken from Jew and Gentile alike. Then let us refer to the passage he quoted from in Hosea. Here we discover that the people Hosea wrote about constituted the true Israel. Without the further revelation given to the apostle Paul, one would never have discerned that Hosea was actually including the Gentiles in his prophecy concerning Israel's blessedness. First of all he declares God's displeasure with Israel, and affirms that God will not be their God: "Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, and I will not be your God." That seems to be conclusive: natural Israel is rejected, and they are no longer God's people. However, in the very next verse the prophet declares: "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered: and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God." (See Hos. 1:9, 10). How could Hosea declare Israel had been rejected in vs. 9, then in vs. 10 affirm that the children of Israel should become as the sand of the sea? The apostle Paul quotes this passage from Hosea, and explains why the apparent contradiction. The answer is clear: God had now received the Gentiles into the Olive Tree of Israel. "Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles... As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people..." This clearly explains why Israel could be rejected on the one hand, and at the same time become as measureless as the sands of the sea. The natural branches were broken off, but spiritual branches were grafted in from the Gentile wild-olive--and the tree of Israel retained its glory. In fact, it became even more glorious as a result of Israel's rejection--it brought to pass even "the reconciling of the world." (Rom. 11:15).

Let us bear these truths in mend, therefore, as we study the various types and prophecies of the Old Testament--for unless we understand that the Bible, the whole Bible, was written for us, we are bound to deny ourselves the glory which God intended we should derive from the Word. "Unto us," the prophets ministered (1 Pet. 1:12). The history of Israel constituted them as "ensamples (or types)" for us, and the records "are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (1 Cor. 10:11). The Law, we are told, expressed "a shadow of (the) good things to come, and not the very image of the things." (Heb. 10:1). And the saints of the New Testament are "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people... which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God..." (1 Pet. 2:9, 10). Here again a simple reference to the Old Testament shows us clearly that the apostle was referring to the true Israel. (See Ex. 19:6; Hos. 2:23).

That God will yet restore the natural Israel that was cast off, and graft back into the Olive Tree the branches which were cut off in unbelief--that is true, and the glory which shall accompany such a transformation is beyond words to express. The apostle simply describes this revival in four brief words: "Life from the dead..." (Rom. 11:15). When and in what manner this shall be fulfilled, God shall manifest in His own good time, and it does not concern us so far as this study is concerned. But the fact remains, Israel never was completely cast off, for "God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew." (Rom. 11:2). Only this disobedient were cast off; the believing Gentiles in turn were grafted into the same Olive Tree, and became "with them" partakers "of the root and fatness of the olive tree." (Rom. 11:17).

Let us glory in our heritage, therefore, and in the fact that we who once had no share in the covenants of promise, and were without God and without hope in the world, are now "fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." (Eph. 2:12, 19, 20).

In the following pages, therefore we have no hesitancy what-so-ever in quoting profusely from the Old Testament and New, by way of establishing these glorious Church truths. If the apostle Paul was "rightly dividing the Word of truth" when he made some eighty-five references to the Old Testament in the one letter he wrote to the Romans, by way of establishing the Gospel of the Grace of God and the doctrines of the Church; and at least eighteen such references in the short letter he wrote to the Galatians; and well over one hundred such references in the epistle to the Hebrews; and if Peter would dare make some thirty references or quotations from the Old Testament in his first epistle; and if the beloved John should make direct quotations from, or references to, practically four hundred Old Testament Scriptures in the Book of Revelation: then we care not in the least if orthodox theology forbids us to take Old Testament type and prophecy and apply them to the Church. The apostles have already done so under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and that is sufficient for men who believe in the verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.

THE OLD, THE PATTERN OF THE NEW

There is a simple order that God has established relative to the progression of Truth and to the creation itself, and it is this: "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." (1 Cor. 15:46). This principle is evident everywhere in the Scriptures. First the old creation, then the New. First darkness, then light. First a garden in Eden and the tree of life, then the Garden of God and the real Tree of Life. First Adam, then the Last Adam. First the Passover, then the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. First Law, and then Grace. First the typical Feast of Tabernacles, then the unveiled glory of God in the spiritual Feast of Tabernacles. And the wonder of it all is this, that the end of the Old is the beginning of the New; and out of that which is destined to pass away there cometh forth that which is destined to remain.

And so it was that God called light out of darkness. It came to pass also that from the first Adam there came Christ, destined not only to become the Last Adam (the last of Adam, the last of the old race), but the Second Man (the beginning of the second creation). Likewise, the Last Passover was the occasion of the true Passover that was sacrificed for us. And when Christ died on the Cross, and the veil of the temple was rent in twain--that was the end of the Law, but it was also the beginning of Grace. God always "taketh away the first, that he may establish the second." (Heb. 10:9).

It is important, therefore, that we should always observe that which is first, and natural, and from the natural learn to discern in what way it typifies the spiritual. If we read of the natural Passover, God intends that from the various circumstances and rituals connected with the natural we should hear what He would say to us concerning the spiritual Passover, even Christ. If it is the Feast of Weeks, then in this God would teach us concerning the true Feast of Weeks, even Pentecost. If it is the Day of Atonement, then let us learn to discern the pattern of the true Atonement. And so likewise, if the Feast of Tabernacles is being observed, it is for the purpose that we might learn great and mighty spiritual truths from the natural circumstances and events transpiring at the Feast. If we bear this in mind we will receive a mine of wealth from the various occasions in the Old Testament and New when the Feast of Tabernacles was observed. There are three occasions in particular that we shall refer to, as having a most remarkable application to the spiritual Feast of Tabernacles which lies just ahead of us. These three occasions are: the dedication of Solomon's Temple, the restoration of the temple following the captivity, and the presence of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles in the time of His earthly ministry. These three observances of the Feast will be dealt with in detail in the last three chapters of the book. The particular characteristics of all three events must find their glorious fulfillment, only on a much higher and vaster spiritual plane than when they were first observed--in this great hour in which we live.

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This blog was conceived on the 8th August 2008,hence its title. 8 is the number of new beginnings, which was also the prophetic declaration over the Church through various prophets in 2008.On,Now,To the Third Level is not some elite form of Christianity. It is God's Norm. Watchman Nee would have called it the Normal Christian Life. Others in time past called it brokenness. We call it life. Rob Rufus explains in "Taking Away The Veil" that Christ has opened the way through to God for us. We can live there.Why bother using the phrase "Third Level"? Because there are 3 places in God's Tabernacle. And there are 3 stages of growth in 1 John 2. More than this, historically and corporately we have known forgiveness by grace. Then from 1906 onward the Church has known a charismatic empowering by grace. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit and supernatural manifestations.But what we are now saying is we can live full-time to God's glory and in God's glory. There are keys of faith to each stage and in these last days God has been revealing the grace keys to this final level....a level that has had the Veil Taken Away.It is the level that is the full realisation of the New Covenant in Christ's Blood, but also the life that God promised when He said "The Knowledge of the Glory of God shall cover the Earth as the Waters Cover the Sea".A FULL LIST OF SUBJECT LABELS CAN BE FOUND LISTED ALPHABETICALLY AT THE BASE OF THIS PAGE.

About Me

This blog has a pre-history in around 100 pages on the comments sections of Dan Bowen's blog - Life on Wings,(see Dan's Vault Link in Chris's Resources below)Much autobiography is included. All posts are by me unless otherwise named.